Beekeeping at Deerfield Academy
From the mid-19th century, when Reverend Lorenzo L. Langstroth, the “Father of Modern Beekeeping,” a pastor at Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts, patented the modern movable frame beehive, Franklin County and the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts have been fertile and important settings for beekeeping and honey production. Deerfield Academy continues this proud tradition with hives located near the greenhouse on the northeastern side of campus, right behind Johnson-Doubleday and Louis Marx dorms.
The students involved in the Deerfield Academy Beekeeping Club meet regularly in the fall and spring, and less frequently in the winter. Students maintain the hives with the help of Deerfield Academy employees. Our club is also supported by local beekeepers, and the DApiary is registered with the Franklin County Beekeepers Association and the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association.
Students or families interested in beekeeping at Deerfield Academy are invited to contact Mr. Jan Flaska.
Honeybees spend their lives in service of others, a powerful reminder of the value of community and working for a larger purpose.
Knowledge + Management = Healthy Bees
To explore what might be inside the mind of a bee, it is helpful to take a first-person bee perspective… imagine you have an exoskeleton—like a knight’s armor…. you have 300 degree vision, and your eyes process information faster than any human’s… you have sensory superpowers, such as a magnetic compass… and you can fly. Given all this, what’s in your mind?
